both countries deployed troops to the eastern border town of course during the dispute the announcement comes at a time of growing protests demanding president bashir steps down a little bit. on this day we salute our fellow brothers in eritrea the president government and the people from this spot in qatar i announce that our border with eritrea is now open eritreans are our fellow brothers and we are on the same boat it is true that politics can tear us apart we have lived in politics that brings us together our historical relations territorial proximity and blood but. on the home of vile has more from khartoum president obama bashir seems to be sending two messages one of them is to the region he has been in egypt for the last few days and immediately after that visit we see him opening the border with it we are one of the countries that have sided with egypt saudi arabia the united arab emirates and behind in the blockade against qatar internally we see that

this is a very important message for the people of on the border with eritrea last year in june when the border was closed after the ports that it and egypt were organizing the military exercises their populations on both sides of the board to help tremendously suffered because their livelihood depended on exchange of commerce and also on movement between the two sides between the two countries now on bashir it has been touring in terms of the regions in sudan after this wave of protests trying to send messages from the government that the government is trying to help people the government is going to ease the economy of the population and this decision today comes in that context as well. let's bring you more on the new plan by european leaders to continue doing business with iran despite u.s. sanctions really got on my file was the fellow for the middle east and north africa program at the european council on foreign relations joins us now live from london

good to have you with us so how is this mechanism supposed to work in a way that it avoids u.s. sanctions well essentially what this mechanism is doing is taking out the necessity for financial institutions and banks to be engaged to facilitate trade between european companies and iranian companies and where u.s. sanctions have been most powerful is to essentially create a sense within the banking and financial community in europe that they would risk losing their business with the u.s. if they were to touch any business with iran so this mechanism is essentially creating a what's called a net mechanism between trade that goes in and out of iran and europe but does that mean that companies that do business with iran they will not face some punitive sanctions from the u.s. how's that part supposed to work. well the companies that are going to be using

this mechanism which is called the special purpose vehicle will still be facing some certain risks with the united states what we can expect is that the companies that are going to use this mechanism are either not having a major business interests in the united states or no u.s. exposure including to the u.s. dollar or that they are actually engaging in activity that is already permitted under u.s. sanctions for example in the area of humanitarian trade with iran sales of pharmaceutical medical devices and goods which make up quite a big component of european trade to iran but then in that scenario then doesn't really make much of a difference if it will only help companies that don't have exposure to the u.s. anyway or companies that wouldn't have been affected by the sanctions in the first place so does this really make that much of a difference. so practically the significance will start of

small. business trickling into iran the idea and as statements have been issued by the various european officials is that they start off with a small endeavor that they hope to grow over time and expand once the mechanism is operational what we need to remember is that this is really a new exercise that the european countries are engaged with it's politically incredibly significant in terms of essentially saying to the u.s. that their policy not just legally but practically is going to be different to what the u.s. is pressuring them to do and the hope is that over time once the market has more confidence in this entity more and more companies are going to be using air but i don't think either you're poor or wrong things that a company like to a towel for example will be using this mechanism from the first day it will take time to create assurance and confidence in it well do you see

a scenario in which to use your example a company like the town comes in not on the first or even later i mean these are companies you know the most important ones are companies that make very very large investments some of them have already pulled out some fear of the u.s. sanctions to get them to come back in do you think this mechanism is going to do it even if it's not on day one. well first of all this mechanism is meant to primarily support trade with iran imports exports rather than investments as in visitors at the moment so they may look to find another type of mechanism to support investments and again who knows where we're going to be a year and a half from now on with a possibly a different or altered u.s. administration in the white house with the upcoming elections there so the idea here from the europeans is really to create a short term mechanism to keep the trade trickling between them and iran in the

hope that this can expand and in the future you might actually be able to see some u.s. participation in this mechanism extended waivers and exemptions to companies like to a towel to utilize this mechanism because even when the u.s. was part of the nuclear agreement and had ease its own sanctions the financial sector in europe was really blocked in terms of being able to transact with iran because of a number of different issues and so this mechanism could complement the more conventional banking financial channels between iran and europe even under future u.s. administration that may have a different policy on sanctions towards iran. just time will tell and so much. venezuela's opposition the national assembly meetings and discuss a transitional plan as it looks to oust nicolas maduro his government self-proclaimed leader one way though is seeking the help of urgency curiously chiefs to withdraw support from a it comes as the european parliament takes the

symbolic step of formally recognizing venezuela's interim president our latin america new in reports from venezuela's capital caracas. thousands of in israel and some to the call to hold a midday protest carrying signs that read we all have reasons. they are demanding the president nicolas maduro to resign a transition government and you elections. we cannot stand it anymore can't stand it anymore to have gone from being a rich country to one where people starving and a fleeing. opposition leaders say five thousand similar protests took place simultaneously nationwide these gentlemen came from which is venezuela's largest slum to take part in the demonstration with their own reason and the reason is in their hand it's this money they say it's absolutely worthless this is a weak salary but only by a half

a carton of eggs with it. one week ago the opposition controlled national assembly proclaimed deputy why they all but miss weyland interim president in close consultation with the trumpet ministration. since then the u.s. and most of latin america have joined forces to try to push mother out. wednesday while those appointed chargé d'affaires in washington met with u.s. officials to iron out details of confiscating venezuelan oil and gold assets to cut off all income to the maduro government. but at a military base battled president's response was that he won't cave in to. pressure ultimatums or blackmail you're reaching for intimacy like i've said in the face of the circumstances of imperialist threats of acting like bathrooms we need nerves of steel calm and sanity and to mobilize your conscience with much military

mobilization repeated he's willing to dialogue with bill but says the opposition's non-negotiable demand early elections is out of the question. this is mexico in europe why attempt to put together a coalition of neutral countries and organizations including the un to attempt and to go shaded settlement to the crisis but it's an option that the opposition seems unwilling to entertain as they with the help of the united states push to precipitate downfall this sounds former chairman has accused the japanese car manufacturer of trying to destroy his reputation carlos ghosn made the comments during an interview from his tokyo prison cell it's the first time he's spoken to foreign media since being detained in november for suspicion of financial misconduct going described his arrest as a story of betrayal so his resistance to run though you need integration was the reason for his arrest. samsung has announced its first quarterly drop in two

years profits between october and december last year were down thirty one percent from the same time in two thousand and seventeen or that's one of the worst performances ever posted by the south korean tech giant the company blames growing competition from chinese smartphone makers and the cutting orders for its memory chips earlier sandmen is the co-host of the china tech investor podcast he says consumer demand for smartphones in china and elsewhere is forming. samsung has been doing worse and worse in china in recent years and has very little to do with the trade war it's because a lot of their chinese competitors are quite strong and whereas apple has the luxury cachet and this innovators cache. samsung doesn't as much and the chinese companies like wa and tell me they have they have

a patriotic appeal on their side when it comes to smartphones in general we're definitely seeing problems so apple in the they've been slower lately. and there's just too much competition and the market's just to satirize in a lot of places most people that have enough money in their done enough disposable income to buy smartphones have already bought them so when it comes to the high end where the margins are there's not much growth to be had there where the growth is this in the low end in places like india or southeast asia or africa where people don't have as much disposable income. the oldest and one of the largest rebel armies in the in ma wants to unite with neighboring groups to find the government the idea came as the current national liberation army month seventy years since is fine for greater autonomy began but attempts to reach a peaceful solution have failed when i reports from qatar and states throughout decades of civil war korean refugees have poured across the river from me and ma

seeking shelter in thailand this journey was in the other direction but still in the name of the fight. this is my flesh and very happy to come and my revolution be it's light the coverage new year. i'm not sure what the future holds but we hope that we will get freedom and happiness. they came to the jungle headquarters in eastern me and ma of the qur'an national liberation army to mark seventy years since it took up arms against the government they call it revolution day but the revolution still hasn't been realized. the fight will go on because the government won't give us freedom easily so we have to fight for that. the mainly christian organization is one of many armed ethnic groups that are fighting for greater rights and self-determination a cease fire is in place but it's broken regularly. and peace talks have made little progress one of the main problems is that the armed to the groups say when the negotiating with me i'm a civilian government they don't get anywhere because don not the ones who are

really in control it's me and miles military that run the country for almost fifty years that still has ultimate power and they say when they do talk to the me and my military there's a lack of trust and. the korean leaders have now suspended involvement in the peace process choosing instead to hold informal talks on their own terms those involved say it's a temporary setback to does the nature of the peace process not only in our country some other gun treat so peace brother does sometimes still mean sometimes the magnet. over the decades the fight in korean state has splintered but this was the first time in fifteen years that all korean groups came together to mark the anniversary they now hope to reunite and join forces in battle i want to see all command groups fighting together for the same victory target we're trying and we hope it will happen in the future. the me and my military says the rebel groups

must give up ideas of separation from the state and surrender their weapons but these fighters say it's never really been about independence it's about having control over their destiny and written into their mission statement surrender is out of the question wayne hay al jazeera qur'an states me and mom. at least nine people have died in the extreme cold weather in the us in some parts of the midwest the northeastern states the deep freeze has plunged to minus thirty degrees celsius that's the coldest for a generation. john hendren has more now from michigan. in arctic freezing envelops the american midwest bringing dangerous cold in record low temperatures this is an event unlike any we've seen in a generation i think it's really important that we protect people the arctic air of the polar vortex is sweeping the region driving temperatures down to thirty below zero celsius

a chick o'hare airport with wind chills in the suburbs making it feel like minus forty eight the predicted low of minus thirty three at o'hare on thursday would be chicago's lowest temperature in recorded history the weather system stretches across issues swath from the dakotas in the north at minus thirty degrees celsius to maine in the east and as far south as alabama to prevent freezing chicago sets the train tracks on fire schools post offices and businesses are closed even a few minutes exposure to temperatures this low can cause frostbite one local forecaster is warning if you shut your eyes for too long they can freeze closed it's that kind of cold. the frigidaire there forms a polar vortex once spun around the stratosphere over the north pole but its current now disrupted is pushing down into the u.s. the arctic blast leaves a mess of crashed cars and broken pipes with days to go before the cleanup begins john hendren al-jazeera willis michigan. all right everton's his home you could

tell us now is the worst overall where we have yeah i think we're about as bad as it's going to get sam he said those temperatures as low as they should get it's a gradual improvement from here by the end of the weekend we should be in stubblefield is maybe even getting up to around ten eleven degrees celsius that means a rapid fairly good night is going to be good news they'll be some ice before that but that could be some flooding to watch out for but the last we want to see any more of this really really cold air so that really will be something of an improvement see how the the s. gradually making its way further places high pressure coming in behind so it is settled in this quiet winds easing off so that wind chill at least will abate just drawn on this red light red line here that's our warm front that's where we're going to see that slightly milder red gradually not again as we go on through the next couple days a situation now top temperature in chicago as we go through the remainder today possibly getting as high as minus sixteen celsius better than it was so that is

something of an improvement new york falling away modest nine top temperature here temperatures picking up as we go on into friday the minus five celsius for chicago and new york and by the time we get to where saturday chicago could be up to around sixty degrees so we're looking at something like a twenty five thirty degree rise in those temperatures has become one through the next couple days that really is something of an improvement in terms of the weather some snow for today around the appalachians cold frosty crisp sunshine across the midwest and as we go on into saturday a quiet day we'll see temperatures getting right up by that state seventy getting up towards double figures could lead to some flooding and look further west some flights coming into california. thanks so much i was and was still ahead on al-jazeera. why the british government is paying a million dollar penalty to a group of people inside for. trump's battle over

a border wall could allow immigrants to stay in the u.s. a lot longer we'll explain why that is find out when. to return to action after the longest injury his career. on the line. for them. to join us all of us have been calling in some form or some fashion is a dialogue talking about. you have seen what it can do to people using multiple drugs including and some people are seeking it out everyone has a points. could be on the join the global.

market. welcome back you're watching out zero time to recap the headlines now e.u. countries are expected to launch a new payment system with iran which bypasses u.s. sanctions their hope is to save the two thousand and fifteen iran nuclear deal the president of trump abandoned last year allow e.u.

companies to do business with tehran using a european payment channel and therefore of for us. at least nine people have died in extreme cold weather in the us in some parts of the midwest and northeast in states the deep freeze is plunged to minus thirty degrees celsius. venezuela's opposition led national assembly is due to meet to discuss a transitional plan as it looks to remove nicolas maduro as government it comes as the european parliament takes the symbolic step of formally recognizing as venezuela's interim president. so how will all of this impact venezuela's oil market for more on this we're joined by oil and gas analyst cornelia my in london she's the c.e.o. of maya resource good to have you with us if we could talk actually about the global oil market will the absence we should say rather not the absence or will that the u.s.

sanctions imposed on the major national all producer have an impact on oil price or prices. well you saw there was a little increase but you saw last week when the whole debate was really all brand trade at pretty much flat between sixty and sixty three million barrels let's not forget when this well and now produces about two million barrels less study produced ten years ago so it's it's about one percent of global oil production so it doesn't matter that much also what they're not selling to the u.s. they can sell to china which gladly take their crude and then just use it as in kind payment for interest on that they have granted to venezuela so i don't think that too many barrels will leave the markets the people who are really affected by this are the refiners on the gulf coast to us refined us on the gulf coast who need heavy crude like that as well including that was exactly what i am going to go to

next called media that segues nicely which is what are some of those refineries going to do because you know as you were point young the old types of oil of the same right can they replace venezuelan oil easily yes they can recreate to buy with heavy mexican crude and henry can they do in crude but they prayed at a premium that venezuelan crude because of all the problems created that this count so so they will have to pay more now that the refiners probably most affected by it is citgo which is set by forty nine point nine percent owned by divest at the national oil company of venezuela so even if they get the oil they will not be able whatever day used they will not be able to shift back to them adore our government they will it's just going to be a ringfence against them so citgo is going to be it's going to be impacted so it's probably. will see less revenues but he has his friends in russia and china who

gladly will provide him with money will we see an impact on prices in the u.s. . no i don't think so we did we may see an impact on some of the refined prices coming out of. the gulf of mexico things but not really you look at the yes w t i s up but it's not up that much you know what we do you have to look at the overall balance overall the u.s. has really been producing gangbusters stare own crude which is light crude which can be refined in most of the refineries but still they have to own crew to go on to global markets and then you have to opec plus group of countries who have said that they will put out one point five million one point two million barrels more because markets were getting towards the end of the year in the sense they have put seven hundred fifty thousand barrels more on the markets so all in all if you talk to any of the agencies the markets are still slightly but only ever so slightly

oversupplied. nearly a month thanks so much for that thank you now in america and it is see a new and is live for us in caracas one way though is about to present his program for the country what do we expect thing then. hello sami i'm outside of the editorial of the you know the central university of venezuela you can see students are beginning to go into the auditorium now from white all should be arriving we're told within the next fifteen to twenty minutes he's going to presenting it we really don't have the details yet of the plan that he is going to present but we have heard that it will focus very heavily on humanitarian aid he will be speaking in front of the diplomatic core business leaders members of the opposition could told national assembly to name just a few just yesterday and brazil added it's. at its royster colombia saying now that both countries are willing to send humanitarian aid food medicine

just to begin with to finish this is significant because remember both those countries have borders with venezuela that means that this humanitarian aid could arrive by land rather than just by sea but the key question is will they be allowed to pass remember that this country is still in control of president nicolas maduro who controls the armed forces and the borders shows that why don't he is going to promise a lot of things he's going to present a lot of options but the key question still is whether or not the military will continue to support president people ask him i will go on and this just hours after the european parliament announced that he too would now be recognizing fungo eyeball as the legitimate interim president to up an issue a semi all right thanks so much to seeing you in that. greece's defense minister has called on the british government to apologize to the victims of the so-called

cyprus emergency it was unarmed campaign in the one nine hundred fifty s. to end colonial rule of the island while the u.k. has already agreed to pay compensation it's still refuses to accept liability david chase a has this special report. arriving from athens the defense minister of greece came to pay tribute to their sacrifice this week. after his tour of the prison we asked the minister if it was now time the british government apologized for what happened here by this it happily the answer is not simple you understand. they have to have to but so many years have passed since then this man has almost been exhausted but not for this man who was tortured for eighteen days he said the psychological abuse was the worst of british

interrogator told him you'll die every day in here like a pig in your own blood and. the wet blanket on my face to make it difficult to breathe and place the bucket over my head my hands were tied the british soldiers started hitting me and quipping my back and feet using tantrums on my knees they would do it in shifts. evangelist's public car this was the last of the freedom fighters to fall to his death from this new sin the prison and also the youngest just nineteen years old his family stood outside the prison gates as he was executed the following year i felt so much pain also the whole family the first years so much anger rage it gets softer over the years but it has never gone away. the scene is just outside nicosia and these pictures underline the fact that with the recent

flare up america activated the security forces can take no chances. every bridge is a potential danger and a likely place for a bomb to have been planned and travels on the side for hidden arms or suspects may themselves run into trouble they must always be on the lookout for a minute a bomb on ambush the u.k.'s minister of state for europe's alan duncan said after the out of court settlement was announced we must not forget the past indeed we must learn from it but the most important thing is to look to the future the settlement does not constitute any admission of liability and is not a precedent in respect to any potential future claims against the government standing in the mountains far above nicosia the statue of one of the freedom fighters whose nom de guerre was the eagle of the cross he fought to the death against british soldiers who surrounded his hideout in this cave they poured petrol into it and burned him alive but the land his gaze is forever fixed on is now

free david chaytor al-jazeera the true dos mountains. number of migrants who died when two boats capsized off the coast of djibouti on tuesday has risen to fifty two many others who are most the still missing boats were carrying about one hundred thirty people thousands of people from the horn of africa often attempt the dangerous journey across the red sea to find work in the gulf countries. about a dozen asylum seekers have been sent back to mexico by the u.s. as part of the trumpet ministrations new policy on illegal immigration refugees and migrants have traditionally been allowed to remain in america while their claims a process through the courts for the partial government shutdown created a backlog of cases u.s. is expected to send back up to twenty migrants a day despite many of them not being from mexico brunell's has more from los suns

in these. early morning downtown l.a. the u.s. immigration court building a long line of people waiting to attend a hearing on their case think your prayers was one of them his hearing was cancelled because of the government shutdown his case was jailed for generally twenty four hours because of the chant down the court didn't happen so now we have to wait that a new day would be scare you know right now we don't know if that would be within the next year or two years three years a father of four progress has already been waiting for three years to see whether he can stay in the u.s. or if he will be deported to mexico and it's chaos now have to wait two three four years more i think it's too much my children are suffering with an overburdened system it's common for cases to drag on for years judge ashley tablet or as president of the national association of immigration judges it's pretty much broken it's been broken for some time but it's become unacceptable at this point and we

now have well over eight hundred thousand cases that are pending on our calendars for just about four hundred it's not unusual for judges to have four thousand or five thousand cases on their docket she says a fundamental problem is that immigration judges are not truly independent or part of the prosecutorial system of the u.s. justice department which is geared toward removing undocumented immigrants i am constantly being pushed to hear. more cases there and that conflict that and that has made it impossible for god to be able to do this job in the active and efficient manner to the contrary it has created the delays are created additional backlog and it has made it very very difficult for the charges to really do their job correctly without undue pressure it's ironic that president trump shutdown which he started to force congress to allocate money for

a border wall has resulted in more undocumented migrants remaining in the u.s. longer immigration judges and attorneys say the only way to fix this broken system is sweeping overhaul of the immigration courts and by allocating more money to hire hundreds more immigration judges robert oulds al jazeera los angeles the taliban says it's not seeking a monopoly on power in a future administration in afghanistan the group says it's looking for ways to co-exist with others earlier this week the u.s. envoy said there had been agreements in principle towards a framework for peace with the taliban that framework was drawn up without input from the afghan government which the taliban regards to be legitimate. but the report on u.s. operations in afghanistan shows the government's influence has declined kabul

controls around sixty three percent of the country that's down almost two percent from the previous quarter whereas the taliban is slightly increased its influence controlling nearly eleven percent the report also reveals the u.s. dropped five times more munitions last year compared to two thousand and sixteen and accuses senior afghan security forces of involvement in narcotic rings in the northern and western regions last year more than seven hundred fifty thousand undocumented afghans returned from iran. and according to the report they're vulnerable to recruitment into one groups more than ten million afghans face severe food shortages in the round two hundred sixty thousand people have been displaced in three hours hardin is a political analyst and lecturer a university he says the report highlights the need for the u.s. to change tactics it's not only one point three percent that the taliban or maybe they are in opposition in torreon control.